Nordic Chamber Music: Finland

Experience Finland as never before. A quartet of saxophones featuring some of the best saxophone players Seattle has to offer will jazz up the northern land with solos and ensembles of two, three, and four.

• Soren Hamm
• Fred Winkler
• Erik Steighner
• Evan Smith

• Finnish works for saxophone quartet, selections TBD
• Saxophone Quartet by Steven Luksan, NWEGS Composer-in-Residence

Concert duration: 60-75 min

More info at nordicchambermusic.org

Heard on the popular radio programs Performance Today and Northwest Focus Live, saxophonist Soren Hamm has performed repertoire spanning the Renaissance through the Avant-garde in concerts across North America. He is the only person to win both the solo and (with the Equus Saxophone Quartet) ensemble categories of the Frances Walton Competition, and was a winner of the Northwest MTNA Competitions on multiple occasions. Soren is an avid promoter of new music for saxophone. In addition to dozens of solo and chamber premieres, he has performed by invitation at the Bowling Green New Music Festival, Ball State New Music Festival, and the New Music Gathering. He is a founding member of Onomatopoeia, the world's first flute/saxophone/horn trio, and helped commission the first original repertoire for this combination of instruments.

Soren teaches on the faculty at Pierce College Puyallup and maintains a private studio in Seattle, WA. He holds degrees from Bowling Green State University (MM) and the University of Oregon (BM) – graduating from the latter with the distinction of Outstanding Undergraduate Performer in Woodwinds; he also completed music education studies at Western Washington University, and was named a winner of that school's Concerto Competition. Soren's teachers include John Sampen, Idit Shner, Fred Winkler, and Timothy McAllister.

Saxophonist Fred Winkler has become one of the leading concert saxophonists in the Pacific Northwest performing frequently as a soloist and chamber musician. An advocate of new music, Mr. Winkler has been involved in the premieres of many compositions for saxophone, including his own arrangement of the Dvorak Piano Quintet Op. 81, which was nationally premiered at the 2011 MTNA Chamber Music Competition held in Milwaukee, WI. Mr. Winkler has performed as part of the Northwest Sinfonietta, Spokane Symphony, Federal Way Symphony, Seattle Philharmonic, Olympia Symphony, Washington/Idaho Symphony, Marrowstone Music Festival, University of Washington Contemporary Music Group, Jacobsen Concert Series, Olympia Symphony, Zephyr Contemporary Music Ensemble, and the Couer d’Alene Summer Theatre Orchestra.

Nationally recognized as a music teacher, many of his students are accepted into the best graduate music schools in the country. Frequently his students are rated with top honors at state, regional, and national competitions, most recently the MTNA competition for woodwinds and chamber music, Beatrice Hermann competition for musicians, and the WMEA State Solo & Ensemble Contest. Mr. Winkler received his undergraduate degree from Washington State University, studying with saxophonist and composer Dr. Gregory W. Yasinitsky, and his MMus from Northwestern University, studying with renowned saxophonist Dr. Frederick L. Hemke. Currently, Mr. Winkler is on the faculty of University of Puget Sound as an affiliate artist, faculty of the community music department, and coordinator for the community chamber music program.

Praised by the Tacoma News Tribune for his “effortless lyricism” and “smooth tone and fluid virtuosity,” saxophonist Erik Steighner has performed with ensembles including the Austin Symphony Orchestra, the Federal Way Symphony, the Northwest Sinfonietta, the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra, the San Antonio Symphony, the Tacoma Opera, and Symphony Tacoma.

Steighner teaches at Pacific Lutheran University, the University of Puget Sound, and Tacoma Community College, where his courses have included saxophone lessons, chamber music, music theory, ear training, music appreciation, and digital music. He is also on faculty at the University of Puget Sound Community Music Department and is the founder and conductor of the South Sound Saxophone Ensemble.

Steighner has premiered dozens of solo and chamber works and appears on CD releases from labels including Albany Records, Alea Publishing, Mark Custom, Naxos, Reference Recordings, and Vienna Modern Masters. He holds bachelor’s degrees in music and English from the University of Puget Sound and master’s and doctoral degrees in saxophone performance from The University of Texas at Austin. While living in Austin, he served on the faculty at Texas State University. Steighner is a Conn-Selmer artist and plays on Selmer Paris saxophones and mouthpieces.

Dr. Evan Smith is a versatile performer and dedicated educator whose work across multiple woodwind instruments spans many musical genres. Evan’s work encompasses the deep history of the saxophone and embraces his study of classical, improvised, and popular music styles. Evan brings this knowledge to the stage as both a skilled interpreter and fearless improviser. He is a passionate advocate for new music whose own works bring forth this diverse musical heritage while blurring the line between composition and improvisation.

Since moving to Seattle in 2011, Evan has centered himself as a focal point on the city’s musical landscape. Most visible performing on woodwinds as a founding member of the acclaimed Seattle R&B outfit The Dip, his recordings have been streamed millions of times through the group’s four studio albums. Evan’s travels with the band often total over fifty concerts annually while touring throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. Highlights include famous venues like San Francisco’s Fillmore and the Blue Note Tokyo, notable festivals such as Bonnaroo and Outside Lands, and appearances on CBS Saturday Morning and NPR’s World Café.

Evan is also an avid participant in Seattle’s improvising and new music community. A longtime supporter of the storied Racer Sessions gatherings, Evan has been a frequent collaborator on new music and has curated the series several times premiering his own solo and ensemble works. He also regularly performs for the long-running Wayward Concert Series that focuses on modern and experimental music styles. More broadly, Evan’s stylistic flexibility often places him in diverse musical settings. His background in symphonic playing and theatre work has seen him perform with keystone Seattle ensembles such as the Seattle Symphony, Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra, and Seattle Men’s Chorus.

In 2015, Evan co-founded the Seattle Saxophone Institute, a two-week intensive summer camp that has established itself as a unique, original educational offering that showcases the instrument’s expressive range. A non-profit dedicated to expanding music education access opportunities, the camp has brought hundreds of students together from across the country to study in Seattle with an accomplished roster of diverse saxophonists. Evan is also a frequent clinician at area colleges and schools, and maintains a bustling roster of students in his Seattle teaching studio.

Academically, Evan’s doctoral studies brought him to Seattle and culminated in his dissertation – Compositional Techniques in the Saxophone Works of Yusef Lateef – which investigates the lesser-known compositions of this luminary musician. He has gone on to perform and promote Lateef’s music regularly and lecture on his work, including at conferences held by the North American Saxophone Alliance. Previously, Evan completed degrees in Music Education and Saxophone Performance at the University of Northern Iowa and James Madison University. During this time he also was a frequent performer traveling the world as a musician for several cruise lines and taught music in Caracas, Venezuela while studying the country’s music education systems.

The Nordic Chamber Music Series is produced by the Northwest Edvard Grieg Society.

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More info at nwegriegsociety.org

Host or Publisher Northwest Edvard Grieg Society